Spain’s Abengoa announced on Monday that it has received an order, as part of a consortium with Chinese EPC contractor Sepco III, to start work on a 909,000 cubic metres per day (m3/day) desalination plant in Taweelah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In a stock exchange filing, the Spanish engineering and construction firm said the desalination project is valued at more than $700 million, with the company’s share being approximately $243 million over the next three years, reported Reuters.

In November last year, a Reuters report, quoting a statement by Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, said the department was studying tenders for developing the Taweelah desalination plant.

In January 2018, it was that Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA), the predecessor of Department of Energy, had invited expressions of interest for the development of the emirate’s first Independent Water Project (IWP) – a 200 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD) or 909,218 m3/day sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant within the Taweelah power and water complex.

Last month, Abengoa said it has been appointed by Sepco III for the construction of a 41,000 m3/day SWRO plant at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) complex in Jebel Ali, Dubai.

The company is currently executing the 600,000 m3/day Rabigh III and 250,000 m3/day Shuaibah III desalination plants in Saudi Arabia and the 114,000 m3/day Salalah desalination plant in Oman.